What to use for a 2nd and 5th grader

[Tracey]

Thanks for responding . I feel like my 2nd grader would do well with Beyond and my 5th grader with Preparing. Any info would be great on how this would look with a tight schedule. It already seems like all we have time for is math and grammer. Thanks, Tracey

[Carrie]

Tracey,

I'm going to link your previous thread from further down the board, just to give the moms a few more details as they ponder your situation. Link: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5526

It does sound like your schedule is very full, and I will be honest with you that our programs do take some time to teach. I only have a few minutes this morning, but I'll be back on a different day to give a few thoughts too.

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

Hi Tracey! Thanks for sharing your placement thoughts here. Looking back at your schedule in the previous post, and considering your sharing here about only having time for math and grammar right now, I think you are wise to really consider the details of how this can work. First, let me say HOD is totally open and go, and easier on us parents than anything else out there (IMO ). It does require some teaching time though (as every good program does), so that does mean carving out some time to do that on a daily basis.

I am wondering how much time you have to devote to teaching each day? Are you able (on the days you work 1-9 PM) to teach from say 8 to noon? That is what we do, and what we did last year when we did PHFHG and Beyond. It did take that much time though (though I was not necessarily teaching that whole time, I was either teaching or overseeing things the whole time). If I was busy with other things (i.e. laundry, on the phone, etc.), I did not finish on time. Finishing both programs in 4 hours worth of time can definitely be done but I think success for doing that hinges on a few key things... whether 5th. grader can learn to be independent with PHFHG on the parts that are supposed to be independent and use the manual efficiently for instructions, whether 2nd. grader can clip along with things fairly well and then entertain himself/herself when finished so you can finish teaching 5th. grader, and whether you can carve out time each day (probably about 4 hours) to be fully in the teaching/overseeing mode for that period of time. Also, I'd really encourage you to do Singapore math and R & S English as they are HUGE time savers and excellent programs. R & S English can be done mostly orally, with dc just writing a bit for each section or so instead of writing it all. We've found this to work well, to be a huge time saver - and retention has been fine with our dc with this method.

Maybe looking at the boxes of instructions for PHFHG will help you decide if your 5th. grader could learn to work fairly independently with the "I" boxes of plans. Also, if your 2nd. grader can clip along fairly well with the Beyond plans with your help. Here are the links to the first week of each of the guide's plans:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/beyond ... t-week.pdf
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/PHFHG-sample-week.pdf

One other thing I needed to do to work part-time and homeschool was to streamline our days. We dropped any extras - both academic and extra-curricular - and this was really a breath of fresh air for us and did more to make homeschooling successful and stress-free than anything else could have. Only you can know if you want to keep the co-op or not, but this would be something to consider - you will definitely know best here.

In light of your busy schedule, another option you may want to consider is combining your 2 dc in BHFHG, having your 5th. grader do the extensions for it (which includes the areas of science and history) as well as the right side of PHFHG. I know you had mentioned being a little tired of American history from years passed, but I'd still choose whatever placement seems best for your family disregarding the history time period as that would be relatively low on the list of what will make your year successful or not overall. (I've had to get used to this kind of thinking myself - as I used to be inclined to overweight the history as a priority, and in truth, that has little to do with the year going well in the day to day). Would BHFHG be in the middle - possibly a stretch for your younger and a tad easy for your older? Maybe, but as a wise woman told me once, "Sometimes the very best program is the program that gets done". Very true. So, that is a big thing to consider as you choose. If it's easier to combine, we can help you find a way to do that; if it's easier to separate (which we've found to be true in our home), we can help you find a way to do that too.

These are all just thoughts and ideas, with the intention to help you think through this and arrive at a plan you have confidence in doing and joy in teaching. All of HOD's programs are outstanding, so any of them are a good choice. Please keep asking questions, and we'll all chime in with ideas until you have a nice plan worked out.

In Christ,
Julie